Telefónica plans ‘Netflix for Europe’
August 14, 2017
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Reports in Spanish newspaper El Pais say Telefónica is planning to launch a streaming video platform with its own original content in Europe to compete against Netflix.
The Spanish operator is said to be finalising plans to launch the SVoD service in Germany and the UK. The service will be marketed at a low price with unlimited access to all content à la carte directly to the subscriber or through distribution agreements with other TV operators.
The service will be made available across all devices – smartphones, tablets, consoles, multimedia players and smart TVs. The company will start with the service in the UK and Germany and extend it later on in other European countries, except Spain. Latin America will also not receive distribution of the service.
The streaming service will streamTV series produced in Spain and in Peru. Movistar Plus has become a big content producer. The company plans to release between 6 and 8 TV series per year and currently it is working on 20 different projects with an investment of €70 million a year.